Brian Laundrie Called His Parents 20 Times In 2 Days After Murdering Fiancée Gabby Petito

Alleged murderer Brian Laundrie made multiple alarming calls to his parents over the course of two days, revealing his partner, Gabby Petito's demise and his need for a lawyer.

Obviously, this raised suspicion as his prior calls to his parents were "sporadic."

Brian's calls to his parents were first disclosed in court depositions from November 2023. However, more has now been unearthed regarding the phone calls. As we reported, his parents -- now facing a lawsuit -- were silent about Gabby's death.

According to a report, Brian, the suspect in the murder of his fiancée Gabby Petito, engaged in a "flurry" of up to 20 phone calls with his parents over two days, revealing that Gabby was "gone" and he needed a lawyer.

This revelation comes from the November 2023 depositions of Brian's parents in a civil case brought by Gabby's parents, Nichole Schmidt and her father, Joseph Petito, in an ongoing civil case in Sarasota, Florida.

The intensity of Brian's calls raised suspicions as it was unusual, given that the 23-year-old had previously contacted his parents only five times in the two months leading up to the tragic road trip in the summer of 2021.

According to court documents, the initial call between Brian and his parents, Roberta and Christoper, occurred on Sunday, August 29, at 4 pm, lasting for 55 minutes—days after Gabby's last known contact with her mother.

Subsequently, there was a 22-minute call at 9:20 pm, followed by a "flurry" of up to 20 calls during the next day, mostly between Brian and his mother, Roberta, according to Petito family attorney Pat Reilly.

During the call, Brian revealed the tragic news of Gabby being "gone" to his father, using his mother's phone. Amid this surge of calls, Brian's parents also contacted family lawyer Steve Bertolino in Long Island, who advised them to remain silent.

Nearly three weeks after the call on September 19, the remains of Gabby were discovered in an undeveloped camping area in Grand Teton National Forest, Wyoming.

Before her tragic death, Gabby was engaged to Brian and had relocated from Long Island to live with the Laundrie family. It was from the Laundrie family home that the young couple commenced their ill-fated journey in June 2021.

Subsequently, it was revealed that Brian had strangled his fiancée before returning to his parents' residence in North Port, Florida, on September 1, using her 2012 white Ford Transit van.

However, when police began investigating Gabby's disappearance, Brian also vanished and later took his own life with a gunshot to the head in an alligator-infested swamp near his home.

During the depositions, Reilly extensively questioned Christopher and Roberta about the pivotal "gone" call. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Reilly said, "Brian told Christopher, 'Gabby's gone, I need a lawyer.' And he was frantic in Christopher's words."

He continued: "They refused to acknowledge that that meant Gabby was dead, which flies in the face of logic. If your son calls and he's frantic and he says, 'gone, I need a lawyer.' What other explanation of 'gone' could there be?"

Reilly shared that Christopher's defense leaned on suggesting an alternative meaning for "gone" by citing instances when Gabby "would leave and go away for a couple of days to meet with her friends or she'd just leave for a couple of hours when she was living with" the Laundries.

"That was his explanation for why he couldn't admit that 'gone' meant she was dead. It was a flurry of calls on those two days. The calls between Brian and his parents before that were very sporadic, around five," he emphasized.

Reilly also noted that the revelation deeply affected Gabby's father, Joseph, who, upon hearing about the "gone" call, "just put his head in his hands."

The legal battle against the Laundries began when Gabby's parents pursued a lawsuit, accusing them of intentional withholding of information and causing pain and emotional distress. The family's attorney, Bertolino, is also implicated in the lawsuit, scheduled for trial in May.

The suit focuses on a statement issued by Bertolino on September 14, 2021, stating: "On behalf of the family, we hope that the search for Miss Petito is successful and that Miss Petito is reunited with her family."

"The key is that they knew Gabby was dead at the time of the statement," Reilly said.

The attorney also mentioned that the Laundries displayed contrasting traits during the depositions. He noted that Roberta "is cold, a very cold woman. She's unemotional, defensive," while Christopher, though "unassertive and polite," was not "as stoic as Roberta."

Attorney Reilly criticized their silence, stating: "They were parents themselves, and Gabby was going to be their daughter-in-law. How could they stay quiet when they know she's no longer living?"

He continued: "They know Gabby's parents are frantically searching, they know they can bring some sense of relief to their suffering by letting them know where her body is, and instead they allowed the body to remain out there in the wilderness to be attacked by animals or whatever else was out there."

"It's just unconscionable," the lawyer concluded.